Buried in a place of honour on the farm Druk My Niet in the Paarl valley is a famous horse named Mapoggo. The story surrounding the horse is that a pair of Boers on commando were on patrol out in the country when they were caught in a huge storm.
They became lost and found themselves walking around in circles. One suggested that they let their horse, Mapoggo, lead the way. The horse saved the day by taking the pair directly back to their commando group. Later, Mapoggo was brought to the farm in Paarl and lived to the ripe old age of 40.
This was just one of the fine pieces of information that Katrin from Wellington Wine Walks related during the three days our group spent walking the area, tasting wine and olives, and overnighting in luxury farm lodges.
We all met late on a Thursday afternoon at Diemersfontein in Wellington, were introduced to the estate by Katrin and Jeanette - our guides for the outing - and soon after, were offered our first wine-tasting.
If anything can pull a group together quickly, tasting quality wine does the trick. By the time we got to the famous Diemersfontein Pinotage, with its chocolate flavours, the party was well set for what was to come.
The evening was spent wining and dining and I had the good fortune to be housed in the old manor house on the estate. Breakfast the following morning was early, then we gathered to be taken by tractor to the top of the farm and the start of the trek up the old Du Toit's Kloof Pass road.
It was a 30-minute uphill slog through fynbos into the state forest on the slopes of the Drakenstein mountains, with plenty of time for the party to catch their breath and see the many varieties of wild flowers in the fynbos.
Once the route levelled out, we headed high above the farm houses towards Paarl, passing Costas farm, the largest olive farm in the country with more than 45 000 trees. It produces about 1 000 tons of oil a year.
Then at lunch time, peeping through the trees, we spied a baronial-style house set back in its own amphitheatre. Katrin announced that this was our surprise for the day and we would descend for lunch at Cascade Country Manor to be hosted by Volker, a German master chef from Namibia.
Once a royal household built by the Duke of Bedford, the run-down building was bought by Volker and his wife, and restored to a magnificent state. Our KZN visitors, all of whom had travelled fairly extensively in Europe, were overwhelmed that places as beautiful as Tuscany and Spain exist a mere 65km from Cape Town.
To the sounds of the waterfall on the estate, Volker took the group through a tasting of products made from the olives grown on the estate, then produced a fine lunch complemented with olive bread baked in a wood-fired oven.
As time was flying by, the guides had to drag us away for the next tasting at Drakenstein olives. Here we were again taken through the various stages of the preparation of olives and oil and, by this time, the group could not believe there was so much to learn about the products.
It was a pleasant stroll downhill to our overnight stop at Augusta Kleinbosch Country Lodge, a farm that was granted to the Huguenot Francois du Toit by Simon van der Stel on two conditions: He had to pay 1 000 guilders and protect himself against the Khoi.
It was from here that Du Toit built the first Du Toit's Kloof Pass more than 300 years ago.
The house was built in 1792 by his grandson S J du Toit - the "Father of the Afrikaans language" - who, at the age of 19, was appointed as a Dutch Reformed minister. When he died in 1911, he was buried on the farm.
Daniel Francois Malherbe joined Du Toit and together they fought for the Afrikaans language to be recognised in the country.
The first Afrikaans bible was printed in Paarl. In 1882, the first national Afrikaans school was opened and had three teachers, 11 boarders and 20 day scholars. The group slept in the renovated schoolhouse while I had pride of place in the "Hen House", the room where the women congregated to talk after a meal.
Early the following morning, after a grand breakfast, we again set off on an uphill climb through groves of olive trees headed for Uitkyk, a large farm on the Wellington side of the valley where Neil and Elsabe du Plessis and their sons farm olives, wine and buchu. They also have a vine nursery, supplying the stock for many farms throughout the country.
Neil took us on a tractor ride to the highest point on the farm, from where a visitor gets a 360º view of the surrounding mountains and farms.
Here, in an eagle's nest of a building, Elsabe educates her visitors about buchu and the manufacture of buchu oil, brandy and skin cream, as well as giving an in-depth look at the olive industry.
Elsabe's enthusiasm and knowledge leave visitors with a deep appreciation of the products. Once again the group had to be dragged away - this time, to attend another tasting further down the valley before lunch.
We arrived at Welgegund and were met by Alexander Camerer, who introduced us to Carignan Rose made from 28-year-old dry land bush vines.
The farm, which originally belonged to Cecil Rhodes, was bought in 1988 and has an ancient Mediterranean red grape variety, of Spanish origin.
It is rare in South Africa and only 70ha are presently under cultivation. Welgegund also produces a fine pinotage.
Across the road, we were met by Reni Hildenbrand, a self-taught creator of fine red and white wines, olives and olive oil. Around the lunch table, the group went through another learning curve and, by the end of the meal, had again gleaned a further wealth of information about wine and olives.
Later, we arrived at Bovlei Valley Retreat and were hosted by Abbi and Lee Wallis, two Brits who are doing an excellent job of caring for guests and slowly perfecting small quantities of wine.
Abbi and her team cooked one of the finest dinners of the walk. We slept in the well-appointed converted stables.
The main house and dining room must have one of the largest fireplaces outside of Buckingham Palace. One could cook a full ox.
On the final day our group was driven to a starting point on Bain's Kloof Pass, high above Wellington, from where we walked down through the fynbos and vineyards of Doolhof Wine Estate.
The remote and historical spot is named "Doolhof", meaning "labyrinth", because many people got lost there in times gone by. It has been the jewel of the Bovlei Valley since 1707.
Grapes for wine and brandy were introduced as early as 1728 and today the estate produces several excellent wines and has won many awards.
Part of the estate's success is that the vineyards are fairly high up and, in some areas, on south slopes. This means temperatures are a lot cooler than in most parts of Wellington, where summer highs can soar to uncomfortable heights.
We then wandered down the valley past the historic Retief homestead, where Piet Retief lived, although he was not born in the valley.
After that we were then transported to the Bosman family vineyards in Wellington for a final tasting of a small selection of wines from yet another historic farm that has been in the Bosman family for many generations.
Late on Sunday afternoon, we all said our goodbyes to Katrin and Ron and the party unanimously agreed that they had walked in one of the most scenic places in the world and would share this well-kept secret.